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I enjoy the view from here. As I sit in my new studio I enjoy watching people from the street gaze at the design board I stuck in the front window. Will anyone ever really buy gold plated wall paper cut out into over scale circles? Probably not. But it’s fun to look at (!) along with magnetic wall coverings, circus inspired embroidered fabric and paint colors that inspire spring to “bring it on!”

The new showroom and studio windows also look out onto the majestic and one and only Lake Superior. The studio encases beautiful upholstery, hot rolled steel top tables and a Barbara Berry light fixture, but also a cracked statue and vintage artwork of three past Kentucky Derby winners that I picked up from a dealer years ago. I had put it aside thinking it wasn’t “good enough” for this beautiful new space. My assistant Lynn insisted I put it up, reminding me to practice what I preach. If you love it, use it. Quit worrying about what other people think. If your space reflects who you are, that’s the best gift you can give yourself.

Go ahead and get inspired by all those crazy things in magazines and design studios, then go home and create your own interpretation of these trends. Style your own design board and don’t be afraid to let the sky be your limit! Suzi

I think it took me three or four (or ten or twenty) times to try and pick up the phone to call John Ivey Thomas, an extremely well known architect in my neck of the woods. He had been saddled with me as the designer on Solvay Hospice House by the foundation director whose non profit organization was funding the whole works. I was terribly intimidated by him, and not sure if I was qualified to do the job I had been hired to do. Trembling… I picked up the phone to discuss flooring choices with him.

I’m going to fast forward you 18 months… to the opening of Solvay Hospice House. People were actually shaking and crying as they took tours of the facility. John had designed a beautiful, sunny and bright building. I had filled it with antique oil paintings, traditional yet comfortable furnishings and unexpected paint colors. I had not never seen people touched in such a personal way by design! But because I’m not a traditionally trained designer I didn’t know the rules, and I’m sure I broke many of them. What I did do was shakily stay true to who I was and what I believed in. Layered, collected, lived in and loved design that everyone could relate to.

Kitchee Gammi Design Co is about doing what you love, finding what makes you happy, and expressing it through design. I posted the above picture because it felt like the right thing to do for my first blog. I just love wild horse photography and horses in general. Wild horses listen to their instincts and are free to revel in the goodness of nature, we have that in common. Welcome to my playground.